My Most Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle
by Greki
Summary: A series of random one-shots showcasing Twilight's, Princess Celestia's and Spike's adventures before FiM.
1. Levitation

Disclaimer: I own nothing of this series, 'cept this little story.

A/N: This scene actually was formed in my head a little more than a month ago. Since then, I've tried to get it out by many, many different means. I actually wanted to write an epic story of Twilight and Princess Celestia's adventures before FiM, how Twilight went from "student" to "most faithful student," but after writing like a dozen different starts where I couldn't set an even pace or tone, I decided to instead show the evolution of their relationship in a series of vignettes. I think this way is the way I'll keep most faithful to the original tone of the story when I first thought of this scene. I sincerely hope you enjoy them.

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><p><strong><span>Levitation<span>**

Twilight Sparkle's first lesson in magic went well.

She was led to a small room in the farthest ends of the castle. The room was gray; the only thing it contained was a single, tall pedestal that supported a very beautiful vase. Princess Celestia trotted over to it, and stood behind.

She had a dazzling smile on her face.

"This," Princess Celestia started, pointing with a hoof, "is an _extremely_ expensive vase."

The Princess said this so brightly, Twilight could not help but feel a little dread.

"Your job is to clean it," she said, "with this." The Princess produced a single, bleached cloth that had probably seen one too many generations of housekeepers. "Using your magic, of course."

She aimed that thousand-watt smile to Twilight. "Well?"

Twilight's eyes shifted from the vase, to the cloth, to her newest mentor's smiling face. She gulped.

She closed her eyes and felt for the telltale signs of magic. A very tiny spark pulsed within and rose to the surface. Gingerly, she grabbed the cloth with it.

The cloth levitated, slowly, surely, towards its target…

_SMACK!_

…and pushed the extremely expensive vase to the floor.

_CRASH~!_

Twilight's eyes widened in surprise, and a gasp died in her throat.

_SMACK~! _

_SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!_

The cloth followed the vase to the floor in her panic. It pounded on it, pummeled it, smacked it… Smacked it until it was little more than dust and the crashing sounds filled the air with each strike.

It was very impressive, considering it was done by a little piece of cloth.

_SMACK~~!_

A final clout resounded within the area; it settled with a little cloud of dust that sprouted from the beating.

Twilight stood still; the little cloth fell from her grasp.

Silence.

Princess Celestia's eyes were as widened as her own.

"Well," the Princess breathed, "you're certainly enthusiastic."

She gingerly approached the rubble and poked it with her hoof.

She smiled.

"You missed a spot, though."

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><p>Twilight Sparkle's first lesson in magic, indeed, went well.<p>

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><p>AN: Well, I certainly hope that you liked it. Until next time!


	2. Guards

A/N: Ohh, better response than I thought it'd have. Thanks guys. If you started reading this when I first posted it, I suppose you noticed I changed the summary. I thought I'd rather change it because that summary suggested a certain sequence in timeline, and since these one-shots are supposed to be mainly random, I thought I'd better change it. It's probable I'll be doing similar changes in the future, but one step at a time.

Anyway, on to the story.

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><p><strong><span>Guards<span>**

Twilight often visited the library. To go to the library she had to pass through a narrow hallway that broke up in a fork on both sides. In the middle of that hallway there was a door; in front of that door there were two pegasus guards.

It was curious. The door was like all other doors she had seen in the castle: plain, with big square patters in the middle, and brown... nothing of significance to it, nothing extraordinary.

So why was it that it had two guards? What was so important that it needed protection? And if there was something important in there, why choose a room so close to library, so close to a public place?

These questions tormented Twilight every time she had to go to the library. Every time she would pass through the hallway and look in the direction of the door.

One day, her curiosity became too much.

Twilight approached the guards, shyly. She wanted to know what was in that door, but the guards were still very imposing. She walked up to one of them, and said:

"Excuse me, mister…"

But the guard did not respond.

Wondering if she had not been heard, Twilight tried a little louder.

"Excuse me, mister…!"

But the guard still did not respond.

A little annoyed, Twilight tried one last time.

"EXCUSE me, mister, my name is TWILIGHT Sparkle. _Could you_ please tell me what's in that door? Uhh… _Pleeeeeaaassseee_?"

And once again the guard did not respond.

Twilight's eye twitched.

"Fine, I'll check it myself."

She took a step toward the door, but before she could stand fully between the guards, two wings shot out and crossed with a metallic clang in front of her.

"Halt!"

"Who goes there!"

The guards glared at her.

Twilight was baffled.

"WHAT? I've been _speaking_ _to_ _you_, I even _told_ _you_ my name…. and yet you still ask who. I. AM? Are you CRAZY?"

The guards did not respond, they merely kept glaring at her.

Twilight threw her arms up.

"Argh! I give up."

She left.

…Silence.

The guards didn't move.

Sometime later, hoof-steps resounded from the other end of the hall. A male unicorn appeared down and stood in front of the guards. He had a wrench and a chip on his flank; he watched them with a huge grin.

"Oh, how wonderful! I knew putting you in this place would eventually activate you… Ponies really are too curious for their own good, I'd say."

He put a hoof on top of where the wings crossed and pressed down. The wings returned to their respective places, and the guards shifted their positions to stand how they previously did.

"Shame you can only do this for now…" He clicked his tongue_. _"…Maybe in the future…"He chuckled and turned to leave…

Before he left, he looked at the door.

"If only they knew." He chuckled again, and finally left the hallway.

The guards stood silent.

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><p>AN: This idea came when I saw bird in a hoof to check for details. I swear you can totally hear a definitely-not-natural sound when the guards cross their wings to prevent Fluttershy from passing, and, they all look the same, so… :P To tell the truth this particular story was not how I first wanted Twilight to interact with the guards, but it kind of wrote itself after checked on the guards. And that OC was also a spur-of-the-moment thing. Maybe he'll make another appearance in the future.

Anyway, response to Ryuu since he doesn't have an account: Celestia has a reason why she did what she did in the first chapter. She's going to be a bit of a prankster, yes, but nothing extreme I think.

And yeah, I also gathered that from that title… it still makes me wonder why she chose "faithful" though.


	3. Little Friends

A/N: Sorry for the wait! I shall explain after the fic.

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><p><strong><span>Little Friends<span>**

"Where are we going, Princess?"

Twilight had been called by Princess Celestia on that morning, a mere week after her entrance exams. The Princess had said that she had something to show her, and now they were making their way through the castle.

Princess Celestia turned her head sideways, and winked at her. "You'll see soon, my little pony." She smiled mysteriously.

They walked in silence for a few minutes; Twilight couldn't stop wondering about what she was going to see. They soon reached a hallway which led to a single door. The Princess stopped in front of it and her horn shone as she opened it with magic.

They stepped inside.

It was warm, but not uncomfortably so. It was well illuminated, with big windows off to a side. A light blue color decorated its walls and ceilings, and there were several toys scattered across the cushioned floor. It was a nursery.

On the other side an opened door led to somewhere Twilight couldn't see. A unicorn mare with a cradle on her flank suddenly appeared from within.

"Your Highness, good morning! I take it you have come for our newest char—oh! And who might this precious little filly be?"

Twilight was hiding behind Princess Celestia's foreleg. She had been startled a little when the mare exclaimed and had ducked behind the Princess's leg on mere reflex. When she realized what she had done, she blushed a pretty red and stepped out from behind the foreleg. A quick sneak up told her that the Princess was smiling tenderly at her. Twilight blushed harder.

"I… I am Twilight Sparkle miss, uhh… ma'am."

The mare smiled hugely at her. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Sparkle. I am Nourish Wellspring, a nurse. You may call me Nurse Nourish, or Nurse Wellspring, whichever you prefer; although Nurse Nourish sounds a bit silly if I do say so myself… and oh! Are you here to see our young charge too?"

"Um…" Twilight hesitated. She didn't know, so she looked at the Princess.

Princess Celestia nodded. "Yes, we are."

Nurse Wellspring stomped lightly on the ground. "Excellent! Follow me, then!" And without further ado, she took off to the opened door.

Princess Celestia stepped in front of Twilight and gently pressed a hoof to her smiling lips, signaling silence. Twilight nodded, and they followed the nurse.

The nurse led them through a small office, and then to another room. This one was even warmer. The floor was covered in the same cushiony material as the nursery, and there was a lot of hay on the floor; some of which was packed tightly in blankets that made small bundles that closely resembled nests. The nurse led them all the way to the back.

On a small bundle, a little further from the rest, lay a little ball of purple that seemed somehow familiar to Twilight. Twilight approached it with curiosity…

And then hastily retreated as the purple ball uncurled and stretched.

The purple ball, a dragon, had rounded spikes on its head and tail, and big adorable green eyes that blinked at her cutely before popping his tail in his mouth.

Twilight recognized him. He was the baby dragon that she had hatched for her entrance exam. Twilight was very happy; she approached the little dragon with a skip on her steps, and sat on her haunches beside him. She reached out with her hooves, and started stroking his arms and his head, and poking gently his little stomach; making him giggle and gurgle happily with all kinds of other little sounds.

She played with him a tiny, gentle little game of tag that used tiny claws and tiny hooves instead of tiny bodies. He would reach for her hooves and she would tap his claws softly; then they would giggle as if that was the funniest game in the world. She even closed on him once and blew a raspberry on his forehead, a kind of sloppy kiss that was surely meant to be motherly and graceful, but was anything but. He rolled and squirmed as he tickled.

Eventually, the two tired a bit, and the little dragon yawned cutely before curling a bit. Twilight yawned as well, and settled her head beside him. The little dragon scooted closer and curled his body against her head. Within seconds, they were fast asleep.

One of the two onlookers, both of whom had remained silent during the whole exchange, giggled quietly to the other. "Oh, they didn't notice use at all."

The Princess smiled very tenderly and approached the two youngsters. She settled besides Twilight and covered both of them softly with one wing. "No. No, they didn't."

The Nurse giggled again. "What is it that they say? 'Love is blind'?"

The Princess curled her head around the two and closed her own eyes.

"Yes, love is blind."

The two new friends slept oblivious to the world.

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><p>AN: Not all fics have to be funny. :P Anyway, to tell the truth I didn't have the slightest idea how I'd go introducing Spike to Twilight. I thought of an epic story where they would end up in trouble together, but the epic story didn't pass from the "epic" part when I thought of it. And then, I was very busy this Monday and Thursday. I had a job interview (and I got the job, woo!), and I didn't have much time to think. Not to mention that due to that interview and the following paperwork I ended up walking on Thursday for almost a whole hour under the very, very, very bright and very, very, very hot sun without a hat that lead to a nasty sunburn on my head that gave me a very, very, very nasty headache. Said nasty headache was so very, very, very nasty that trying to think of any epic stories felt like I was cracking my head open with a concrete block or something harder. In the end I had to nap to wear it off.

And that is when this scene popped into my head. Just as I was trying to sleep, this scene popped up and somehow made me feel all fuzzy and warm, and actually helped me to soothe the headache and let me sleep. Sadly, I first had to nap before writing it, and I forgot a few details, and in the end I don't think I actually managed to make it justice, but hopefully you got to enjoy it.

Anyway, response to Ryuu, 'cause SHE doesn't have an account: First of all, whoops. Sorry for assuming! Second, maybe Celestia is a princess because maybe Equestria is not a kingdom, but a principality. :P But yeah, she's so the pony queen. XD

Third, I hadn't even thought of that when I wrote that part, but you do have a point. Still, there is another reason why Twilight said her name that way, but it'll be shown why… indirectly, in a little sequel I have planned for later on. Hopefully it'll be clear then.

Anyway, thanks for reviewing!

And for the rest of you guys, thanks a lot for reading!

See sha!


	4. Eating Balanced

A/N: Not much to say today, other than I've been studying for my new job. Woo!

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><p><strong><span>Eating Balanced<span>**

"This seems like a good place to finish. Well done, Twilight Sparkle."

"Phew…"

Twilight and Princess Celestia had been working on Twilight's magic for the better half of the morning. To say that Twilight was tired was an understatement. To say that she was famished—

_**grooOoowwwWWwwllLLL-L-L-…L**_

—was an even greater understatement.

Twilight slumped on the floor, face an impressive shade of red. The Princess's eyes had gone very wide, eyebrows up almost all the way to her mane.

A moment later, the Princess chuckled. "Oh ho ho," she said jovially, "Perhaps lunch has been long overdue... Why don't we treat ourselves to something, then?"

The inner (and not so inner) filly in Twilight nodded enthusiastically and said in an even more enthusiastic voice, "_YES!_" before she reminded herself and added, "umm… please?"

"Follow me, then."

/°°°/

"Tell me, my dear Twilight. What kind of food do you like most?"

Twilight felt her heart flutter at the term of endearment; she didn't take a moment to answer proudly, "My books say that it is important to eat healthy food. They say that young fillies must learn to eat healthy in order to grow properly, so I always try my best to eat very healthy food."

The Princess stood silent for a moment; she inclined her head slightly to regard Twilight. Twilight, in turn, felt her pride deflate a bit. Had she done something wrong?

"Hmm…" The Princess hummed, "Tell me, Twilight Sparkle… Am I correct in assuming that you only eat pasture and grain?"

"I… I sometimes eat some vegetables and a little bit of fruit," Twilight responded, still wondering if she had done something wrong, "I… I also drink milk sometimes."

"And you avoid all other kinds of food?" The Princess pressed.

"Umm… yes?"

Princess Celestia turned to look up front. "Hmm…" she hummed again. Twilight wondered what she was thinking.

Suddenly, she turned to look at Twilight again.

"I believe a new lesson is in order."

Twilight blinked.

/°°°/

It turned out that they had been making their way to the Royal Kitchen. An earth pony with a toque on his flank and on his head had greeted them, before leaving them to their own devices. All the other cooks had gone about their business, trying not to stare. Twilight and the Princess then headed further in, to a small corner that was more or less private.

The Princess was currently trying to teach Twilight on proper eating.

"It is important to eat healthy food, as your books said, but it is more important to maintain a balanced diet. There is more to life than strict restraint, my little pony. And then, there is a difference between restraint, abstinence, and moderation. If we are to truly enjoy our life, sometimes we need to lose a bit of that control."

The Princess magicked an apron over herself and over Twilight.

"Which is why, my dear Twilight, I am going to teach you how to eat properly."

She then magicked several kitchen tools over the counter.

"And for that we need to start with something simple."

And then levitated Twilight to a tall chair so that she could see the counter.

"A sandwich."

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><p><strong>To be continued…<strong>

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><p>AN: Ohhh, I bet that was the most irksome "cliffhanger" you've ever seen. Don't worry, though. I'll post next chapter tomorrow... probably. I just don't want the chapters to get too long. Anyway, did you know that horses get colics if they eat too much fruit? Colics are dangerous business for horses; might cause them heart attacks from anxiety and panic. Still, this is not about horses, this is about ponies.


	5. Late

A/N: Explanation after story.

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><p><strong><span>Late<span>**

Once, Twilight Sparkle was deeply engrossed in a book.

She didn't notice she was late for one of her magic lessons.

She sat there, in the castle library, against one of the low tables for the little fillies and colts (right in the middle of the library), reading intently the theoretic theories of some thing or another, when suddenly she noticed that the whole library had gone unnaturally quiet.

Now, libraries were usually quiet places; silence being encouraged in order to help with concentration…

But such a kind of unnatural silence was… well, unnatural.

Nopony spoke, nopony moved, Twilight noticed, and, with a cold drop of sweat on her brow, she looked up to see what had happened.

Everypony was looking at her.

Or rather, everypony was looking at the mare in front of her.

Twilight faltered.

"P-Princess?"

The Sun Regent Goddess Princess of Equestria, sat on her haunches on the other side of the low table for little fillies and colts that Twilight sat against, reading a book that floated upright in the air. The table was too low, and it barely reached up to the Princess fetlocks, and it made for the whole sight to look slightly surreal.

Everypony stared.

After a long, tense moment where nopony moved, the Princess's eyes peeked out from her book. They stared at Twilight with mirth shining within them.

"_**Peek-a-boo**_..."

Nopony spoke.

Twilight Sparkle was never late for her magic lessons again.

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><p>AN: So much for updating the next day… I actually had a good bunch of Eating Balanced part 2, but… Remember how I told you I got a new job? Well, these past two weeks I was so totally immersed in my new job's training that I didn't have time to breathe; much less to write. The training finished and once I had the time to breathe and therefore to write, I went back to the half-finished chapter... and promptly decided that it was a total piece of crap, so I decided to trash it.

Unfortunately, I decided I'll work on EB part 2 on some other day. These past two days I've had a very nasty case of toothache, so nasty, in fact, that I actually need surgery. You'll have to excuse me if I'm not exactly in the mood to write about food… So I decided, instead, to write this story. Remember that these one-shots don't exactly follow a linear sequence, so updating the sequel sometime later will not make much of an impact in the story.

Anyway, response to Ryuu: First of all, thanks for the review! Second,

About Twilight being Spike's caretaker: It is evident Twilight plays a significant role in Spike's growing, that's why I introduced them a week later from the exam. But I think that with all the changes that happened in that day, she wouldn't be able to be in charge of him so early on. I think that particularity of their relationship will change and advance through time.

About Celestia teaching Twilight to eat healthy food: I think Twilight as a young filly would have the belief that all books are correct, so I think she'd believe that eating healthy all the time would the most healthy thing to do, if she had read that. Of course that kind of obsession, any obsession really, with eating healthy food all the time is unhealthy (there's actually a name for people obsessed like that, orthorexics), so I think Celestia would make sure to teach the differences between obsession and moderation. I hope I can portray that in other instances.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this particularly short story.

And I need to stop talking so much. I swear there are more words in the A/Ns than the whole series. XD


	6. Little Knight

A/N: The bad thing of working at night is that time flies away at such a fast rate that you don't realize how much time has passed until you look at a calendar.

Sorry about that.

Anyway, a big thanks to Brishelle cause she did a little sketch of last chapter that simply was just so cool I think I'll post the link here: http:/ ks4u. deviantart. com/ art/ Peekaboo-227406716

Errr, at least I think Brishelle is ks4u.

Either way it makes me feel completely flattered and also a little bad because I took so long to update…

Still, thanks a bunch!

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><p><strong><span>Little Knight<span>**

Twilight Sparkle and Celestia would often visit the dragon hatchling in the nursery.

In those days, Twilight Sparkle would completely discard her usual persona of serious and diligent student. She would play with the purple hatchling all kinds and manners of games, and Celestia, of course, would either watch from a distance, or role-play to join in.

On this particular day…

"I will protect you, Princess Celestia!" Twilight declared valiantly in the face of a dragon. "I shall do it on my honor!"

Twilight, Celestia mused, must have been recently studying the middle ages.

She chuckled.

"Oh, please, my little knight!" Celestia joined in. "Please protect me from that huge and ferocious dragon!"

And Twilight Sparkle did. She puffed her chest up, and stomped down in front of it-

_**SQUEAK**_

-and accidentally stepped on a rubber toy.

No matter, Twilight Sparkle stared determinedly at purple "menace".

The "huge and ferocious" dragon took her challenge very seriously.

He grabbed his tail and started to very cutely suck on it.

Twilight faltered.

Slowly, she turned to Celestia.

"…Princess.

"I'm afraid I will have to commit seppuku."

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><p>AN: Soooorrry again for the wait, and I hope you enjoyed this little piece. And before anyone says anything, I know knight didn't commit seppuku, or did samurai fight dragons. I kinda made a crossover here just for fun and because that particular scene kinda popped into my head like that.

That's what happens when you read on two subjects at the time, I suppose.

Anyway, response to Ryuu: First of all, thanks for reviewing. Second, thanks for the good luck wishes. The surgery went well. I had like this huge purplish _ball_ on the side of my face for a while there, but it no longer hurts. I'm still going every week due to another procedure, whose name I don't know in English, that must be done in several sessions but it's going well. Thanks again.

And thanks to Endam too for reviewing.

Ohhh! One other thing. I have uploaded this fic on Fimfiction; a site exclusively done for pony FIM fanfiction. The chapters there are a bit more revised than here, if you wish to read them. They are basically the same, but improved over there. The reason for this is that I must upload the stories partially raw over here, because if I don't upload them while they're still fresh they end up in the trash.

Anyway, here's the link, for anyone interested:

http: /www. fimfiction. net/ story/164/My-Most-Faithful-Student%2C-Twilight-Sparkle


	7. Praying

**Praying**

Once, Twilight Sparkle went to the Royal Balcony.

She had been invited by the Princess to accompany her in praying.

It was night.

The sky was clear that day. The moon clearly seen among the stars.

At first the Princess was silent. Her eyes closed in contemplation.

Twilight thought that she had started praying already, and made a move to start her own.

Then Princess Celestia opened her eyes.

It was in an instant. The Princess flapped once, then twice, and her body went into the air just like it had been when she had raised the sun in the Summer Sun Celebration.

Eyes shone a brilliant white.

She prayed.

"**IN THE MOONLIGHT A WORM**

"**SILENTLY**

"**DRILLS THROUGH A CHESTNUT!"**

Twilight knew that from that moment on she would never look at the Princess the same way ever again.

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><p>AN: Imagine that in the Royal Canterlot Voice, in case you didn't get it. Anyway so this is something I squeezed just before going to work. The Haiku belongs to Matsuo Basho. I was looking for moon poem and I thought this one was strangely fitting. Something of a Celestia reading poetry to Luna every night to help her pass the time or something, in a way that Luna understood, of course. And well, there's hints of the future here, as well.<p>

Anyway, I have to say I didn't mean to let time fly by so fast. It wasn't until I got CatClanWarriorLeader's review that I realized I really, really needed to make sure in everybody's minds that I am indeed a kidnapper and his/her fears were entirely founded-just kidding. But seriously, that review was so strangely motivating that I finally got a breakout to push this tidbit out. Someone (can't quite remember who, right now) said that you can't wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club, and I totally agree. Sadly, I haven't been really committed in that regard.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and those who added this to their favorites and alerts in spite of it not having been updated in months. Kudos to you all.


	8. No Ending

**No Ending**

Once, Twilight Sparkle discovered a book.

It had no ending.

"What! Where is it? It can't end like that!"

She searched everywhere. In every single corner, in every single book. She searched throughout all the library and when she was done with that she went through the castle.

But still no ending.

The pages… were just blank.

It was terrible.

Now she would not know the end of the tale.

She cried.

It was by chance that Celestia seemed to pass by.

With a small tickle on her ear, she heard the filly crying around the corner.

"Oh," she exhaled. "What do we have here?"

She went over; knelt beside trouble filly; covered her with a wing.

Her gaze like gentle sea.

"What troubles you so, my little pony?"

But Twilight could not respond. She could only sob.

Something stole Celestia's glance.

"Ah!" she exclaimed, drawing Twilight's gaze. "You found it!"

Twilight blinked her huge watery eyes. "What-?"

"My favorite book. You have found it, Twilight Sparkle. Thank you!"

But Twilight was aghast. "B-but… how can this be your favorite book? It doesn't have an ending!"

The Princess smiled.

"Ah. But you assume that it has no ending because its last pages are blank. You assume that it was not finished… But what if its pages were meant to be blank? What if they were left blank on purpose?"

"HUH?"

"I prefer to think, my dear Twilight, that I can create my own ending every time I read the book. That every time I can make it much sweeter. Or maybe, never ever end it." She leaned close and winked. "The Journey has just started…"

Twilight Sparkle's eyes never shined any brighter.


End file.
